This loss started a long time ago. First, Governor Kemp appointed Kelly Loeffler to the open seat without having the GA GOP team onboard. There were a few people hoping and waiting for that seat to open, especially Rep. Doug Collins. I suspect there was a financial benefit to Governor Kemp which helped him make her the choice to fill the seat. Second, the jungle Primary was a major problem, because it pitted Democrats and Republicans against each other for the seat, splitting the GOP vote. That lead to the runoff in the first place! Then, Rep. Doug Collins was not convinced not to get into the race for the rest of the unexpired Senate term, and his running against Senator Loeffler hurt them both in the general election. Third, the candidates ran as separate campaigns, rather than as a team, like Ossoff and Warnock did. The Democrat campaigns coordinated well together, with better results. Fourth, President Trump is also partly to blame, because his continual claims of election corruption dampened enthusiasm and trust in the election process. The lack of faith in the system may have been more damaging than the lack of enthusiasm, but who knows, and who would it matter? Fifth, President Trump trashed GA GOP folks including the Governor, the SoS, and others, on social media. That divided the party when it needed to be unified. It was a bad confluence of factors, and it took more than just one factor to cause this outcome. We have a lot of work to do to restore confidence, and rebuild the GA GOP.
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